After listening to Amanda Ballester for nearly three hours, Stouffer was convinced: Police must search that lake, which is about 12 miles away from the place she disappeared after an evening partying with friends.

Lebanon County District Attorney David Arnold, who said Ballester's account has changed, isn’t convinced. Arnold said there are "a lot" of bodies of water in the area, and there isn’t enough evidence for him to call for a search of the 85-acre lake in Memorial State Park, which is adjacent to Fort Indiantown Gap.

Maybe Kortne’s body isn’t in Memorial Lake, where the deepest waters measure about 22 feet near its dam area. But if there is even a slight chance that it is, every effort should be made to find out, Stouffer said.

Like the district attorney, Stouffer has heard dozens of stories on the whereabouts of his daughter during the 20 months she has been missing. But this one is different, said Stouffer, whose office happens to be adjacent to the lake.

The explanation includes a motive that Stouffer believes is plausible, an accurate timeline and people who he said had been with his daughter the evening she disappeared. Ballester also knew details that Stouffer believes were only known to family and investigators.

“She is the most credible individual I have talked to in the past 20 months,” Stouffer said, holding back tears. “Her information seems to fit the theories of the case, the characteristics and the suspects. This girl made the past 20 months seem like two days ago.”

BACKGROUND

Kortne Stouffer disappeared from her apartment in the 800 block of West Main Street in Palmyra during the early hours of July 29, 2012. A search ensued in the following weeks and months. And her disappearance has made national headlines.

Prior to leaving, her boyfriend, Brad Herr, was arrested at the apartment they shared, by a probation officer. Herr was on house arrest and probation for driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs while underage, according to published accounts.

Herr spent about a week behind bars in Lebanon County, according to court records. And Kortne blamed her neighbors for the arrest, thinking they had called the cops to complain about the party, Stouffer said.

It’s still unclear who placed the call to police that led to Herr’s arrest. And police have been unwilling to say who called them.

When Kortne came home from Harrisburg later that night, she saw her neighbors as she climbed the steps to her second-floor apartment. She started screaming at them, thinking her boyfriend would face a long jail sentence because of the call she believed they had made, Stouffer said.

Kortne continued yelling at them, until finally, the neighbors did call the cops, who visited the apartment for a second time. They got there about an hour after Kortne came home from the bar, Stouffer said. The police knocked, but there was no answer. Instead of going into the apartment, they left, Stouffer said.

Ballester, 26, of South Lebanon Township, said she knows who called the cops the first time on the night Kortne went missing. She contends that they were the same people responsible for Kortne's disappearance.

Close acquaintances of the men in question, one of whom is connected to the incident, told her the story, she said. And Ballester claims she even overheard those responsible brag about the crime and reveal details.

They called the cops because they wanted to make sure Herr was gone while they searched the apartment for a large amount of money and marijuana, Ballester said. Kortne died shortly before or after the marijuana and cash were stolen, she said.

Stouffer said he also believes there were money and drugs in the apartment the night his daughter disappeared.

Ballester shared her story with PennLive, which reached out to Stouffer for comment and set up their meeting. Ballester said she didn't do it to get the $50,000 reward offered for information leading to Kortne's location. And Ballester said she promised to refuse the money if her story leads to Kortne or her body.

"I don't want the money," Ballester said. "I would have the family use [the $50,000] to build a memorial for Kortne."

Ballester met Kortne in 2010. The two weren't close friends, but they had chatted on Facebook and hung out together at several parties. She even considered joining Kortne and other friends at the bar in Harrisburg that night, but didn't because it was her daughter's birthday.

Ballester said that she was told that Kortne died in the apartment, the men rolled Kortne’s body up in a carpet, weighted her down with chains and cinderblocks and drove to Memorial Lake, where they dumped her body.

Stouffer said Ballester's story contained details that aren't public knowledge. For example, Ballester described the color of the carpet she said was used to conceal Kortne's body. Stouffer said he believes a carpet matching the description was missing from the apartment the next day.

Ballester also said that in addition to the drugs and cash, there was a money-counting machine in the apartment that wasn't stolen, which Stouffer also confirmed.

Ballester said she called the Palmyra Police Department after she heard the story. She first called on Aug. 10. After contacting the department several times, police encouraged her to share her account with Arnold, whose office is leading the investigation.

Ballester said she called Arnold’s office on several occasions. And she sent an email on Aug. 13, detailing to investigators what she believed happened to Kortne.

Arnold confirmed that Ballester contacted his office several times. But he said her story changed three times, which raised “red flags.” Ballester denied the accusation. She said her story never changed, and that the district attorney and his investigators never took her seriously.

Each of Ballester’s claims was investigated “to a certain extent,” Arnold said. But Lebanon County doesn’t have a scuba diving team to send into the water, and he needs something more concrete to go on before he asks an outside agency to put its resources behind a search of the lake.

Arnold said, “It would require some hint that there is credibility to the statement."

“Detectives have kept a log over a year and a half. [Ballester] called on three occasions providing information. And I don’t want to get into what she said specifically. There were varied accounts of what happened. I know for a fact that every single call on this chart has been investigated at one point or another,” Arnold said. “We’ve checked every place that there could be reason to check.”

Arnold said the number of calls his office receives regarding the Stouffer case has waned. He said that his office is no closer to finding Kortne than it was at the start of the investigation.

Arnold would not disclose specific areas his office searched, but he said at least one body of water has been investigated. And he acknowledged that the longer Kortne is missing, the more likely it is that she is dead.

A PLEA FOR HELP

Stouffer is critical of the investigation, and he wants state police to take over the case.

State police assisted the district attorney’s office with the investigation early on, said Trooper David Beohm, a spokesman for the agency.

State police interviews anyone that comes to them about the case, but then the person and the results of the initial investigation are forwarded to the lead investigating agency, he said. If the district attorney’s office reaches out again for help, the state police would again assist the investigation, he said.

“We don’t like to jump ahead and say, ‘No, this is what you are going to do.' We don’t generally, unless [the agency] would request us to do so,” Beohm said.

Like the district attorney’s office, the state police doesn’t have an in-house dive team for water investigations, he said. It depends on outside agencies – such as the Harrisburg River Rescue – to assist, he said.

If the district attorney's office doesn’t request help from an outside agency with water investigation experts, Stouffer said he is praying a team will volunteer to search Memorial Lake – and other adjacent bodies of water – to help find Kortne, who would be 23 years old on April 24.

“And I also would like to reach out to any agencies that we might ask for help that have resources that could help us in some search of a couple bodies of water. Please get in touch with [PennLive] to help us with a search ... in a couple targeted areas,” Stouffer said.

“I sincerely hope that we can come to some resolution on the whereabouts of my daughter before we get to her birthday," he said. "That would be an answered prayer for her family and friends.”

HOW TO HELP

Kortne Stouffer is 5 foot, 8 inches tall and weighs 115 pounds. She has blonde hair and green eyes, but her eye color could have changed with contacts. She has a mole on her right cheek, and has tattoos on her upper right arm, left foot and left hip.

Anyone with information on the Kortne Stouffer case should call 717-228-4403 or 800-472-8477. Information also can be shared at www.pacrimestoppers.org.

There is a $50,000 reward for information leading to Stouffer’s location.

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